Background

RepublicEn was created in 2012 by executive director Bob Inglis, a former U.S. Representative from South Carolina who lost his congressional seat in a 2010 primary election. Inglis has claimed that he lost due to his advocacy for regulations to combat global warming,[2] stating, “For many conservatives, it became the marker that you had crossed to Satan’s side—that you had left God and gone to Satan’s side on climate change.”[3]

Inglis’s alleged political martyrdom has earned him positive coverage by left-wing advocacy media as the “conservative who believes that climate change is real.”[4]

Environmental Activism

RepublicEn was created to provide a “conservative” solution to climate change. RepublicEn advocates for enacting environmentalist taxes carbon emissions. The organization condemened President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.[5] The group has also called for import tariffs on countries that don’t already tax carbon dioxide.[6] One of RepublicEn’s members, Alex Bozmoski, have openly praised U.S. Representative Carolos Curbelo’s (R-Florida) carbon tax bill in interviews.[7]

Association with Left-Wing Organizations

RepublicEn has ties to the left-wing Citizen’s Climate Lobby (CCL) through Inglis.[8] The CCL, an organization with ties to a number of other right-leaning carbon tax advocates such as the American Conservation Coalition, has also lobbied Congress for a carbon tax—most notably the Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan House caucus whose members are generally sympathetic to such legislation.[9] Despite CCL’s claim of bipartisanship, however, its employees overwhelmingly donate to the reelection campaigns of Democratic politicians including U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR).[10]

People

Bob Inglis, former U.S. Representative for South Carolina’s 4th congressional district, created RepublicEn and serves as acting executive director. Inglis also sits on the advisory board of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL). The CCL is an organization that promotes a carbon tax scheme and who’s staffers have a history of donating to left-wing causes. Inglis shares his position on the board with George Shultz, former secretary of State; James Hansen, former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Steven Chu, former secretary of Energy; University of Massachusetts-Amherst Professor of Social Justice Barbara Love, and liberal actors Don Cheadle and Bradley Whitford.[12]

Alex Bozmoski, RepublicEn’s Managing Director, is also a staff member at the Center for Climate Change Communication (4C) at George Mason University.[14] While 4C is barred from lobbying, Bozmoski has stated in interviews that the group intends to raise grassroots support for carbon tax bills.[15] Bozmoski stated in an interview that “If we had 100 people in 50 of the right congressional districts phoning their support for climate leadership, I have no doubt that Congressman Curbelo would experience a rush of enthusiasm for his bill and quite possibly for amending his bill.”[16]

Chelsea Henderson, RepublicEn’s director of editorial content, is a proponent of a Republican Party-supported carbon tax, stating in an interview that it is “the preferred compliance mechanism of conservatives and economists . . . for solving climate change.”[17]